Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

Victim of accidental assault

I'm a writer, and in my newest manuscript, I have a scneario where a man, suffering from schizophrenia, pulls a gun with the intention of killing another human being. He misses his intended victim, and instead hits a stranger. Would there be a legal charge against the schizophrenic with respect to the stranger, or is the stranger only entitled to a civil action?

Thanks so much for your assistance in this regard.


Asked on 6/11/04, 10:55 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Edward Hoffman Law Offices of Edward A. Hoffman

Re: Victim of accidental assault

The title of your message refers to an "accidental assault." There is no such thing. By definition, assaults are intentional -- even if the person injured is not the one the assailant was trying to harm.

There is a legal doctrine called "transferred intent" which essentially says that an intentional act designed to cause harm will still be treated as intentional if the person harmed was not the intended target. If you deliberately shoot at Person A but miss and kill Person B instead, then you can be convicted of murdering Person B.

The victim in your hypothetical would have a civil claim against the assailant and he would be subject to prosecution as well.

And your protagonist's schizophrenia is probably not relevant from a legal standpoint. Schizophrenia is not the same thing as insanity, which the law regards as the inability to distinguish right from wrong. Most schizophrenics know the difference.

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Answered on 6/12/04, 12:03 am


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